2 children among 4 dead in Calif. highway crash

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Last Updated: Mon, Nov 26, 2012 06:00 hrs

Two children were among four people killed when a car collided with a minivan on a rural Northern California highway, authorities said.

The wreck came as a Toyota Prius crossed the center line on Highway 50 near Placerville on Saturday night and struck a Toyota Sienna minivan "broadside," said California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer John Frizzell.

The crash also left three people injured. Earlier reports had put the injury toll at five.

Three people in the Prius were killed in the crash, Frizzell said. They were identified as 38-year-old Sheng Kun Su, who was driving; 39-year-old Shu Zhen Zhao; and 8-year-old Shawn Su, all from Oakland. Another child in the car, identified as 10-year-old Elly Su, was hospitalized with severe injuries, CHP Officer Sean Ricci told the Sacramento Bee.

Of the five people in the minivan, a 4-year-old girl from Pollock Pines was killed, Frizzell said. Nora Elizabeth Temple died after being taken to a hospital. A 35-year-old female driver and a 52-year-old man suffered minor to moderate injuries. Twin 1-year-old boys were not injured.

Weather conditions at the time of the crash were clear.

"We don't know what caused the Prius to cross into oncoming traffic," Frizzell said Sunday. "There's an infinite number of possibilities."

Investigators have pulled computers from both vehicles that would indicate how fast they were going at the time of the crash, but collecting that information would probably take days, Frizzell said.

The highway where the crash took place is just outside of Placerville, about 45 miles east of Sacramento. The highway has two lanes, with minor to moderate curves, and with a speed limit of 65 miles per hour, Frizzell said.